


I Would Wait Forever

by Solange956



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: A little bit of angst, Gen, Nile Freeman Needs a Hug, POV Nile Freeman, Post-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29662374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solange956/pseuds/Solange956
Summary: Nile has finally convinced Copley to let her get in touch with her brother.
Relationships: James Copley & Nile Freeman, Nile Freeman & Nile Freeman's Brother
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	I Would Wait Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to write a little something for Nile in February, and the one thing that kept rattling around in my mind for post-movie possibilities was about her family. No way in hell do I think she would she let the others force her from her family. 
> 
> Whether or not Booker had a bad experience with his mortal family, it doesn't mean that Nile would have the same experience, and I think she deserves the chance to reach out to them. There's still a lot she'll miss out on in their lives, but they deserve to know that she's not dead, you know?

“Can you handle it?”

Nile hummed into her microphone, not bothering to answer Copley’s question. It wasn’t the first time he had asked, and she was getting a little tired of the kid gloves. Sometimes Nile wished that their pet secret agent extended the same awe and wonder to her that he did to Andy, Joe, and Nicky, but she supposed it made sense; she was about the same age as his own children after all.

“Nile?” he repeated, ever patient.

“I can handle it,” she said, her voice soft and expressionless as she sat in the crowded café, sunglasses and sunhat obscuring her face as she played with her phone, completely embodying the young tourist out to enjoy herself in Barcelona.

“Okay…” Copley said reluctantly. “Contact me if there are any complications.”

“It’s my brother,” Nile said, feeling impatient now. Her heart leapt in her throat when she caught sight of the tour group, her tall gangly brother towering a head above his peers. “I’ll be okay.”

He was always tall for his age, but even now that he was in college, he stood out in a crowd.

“Still hasn’t grown into those bones yet,” Nile said with a smile, slow and sad, thinking about how she wouldn’t be there with him when he finally did. She wouldn't be able to watch him graduate or help him take care of their mother… and she wouldn't be there when he started a family.

She sent a text, finished her coffee, and left enough money to cover her bill before meandering over to one of the fountains. She sat at the edge, looking into the murky waters and the small piles of coins, both foreign and domestic, that lined the bottom.

“…Nile?” a familiar voice said from behind her.

Nile turned, slowly and carefully, scared that this was a dream she would wake up from if she moved too suddenly. She lowered her sunglasses, just an inch, and winked.

“Nile,” Marcus said in a rush of breath, sun reflecting off his glasses, his whole body dropping down next to her. “How? They said you were…”

“I know,” she said quickly, reaching out to grab one of his hands, hoping to reassure him and calm her own nerves at the same time. “It’s… a long story.”

“Mom misses you,” he said, his eyes soft and sad enough to make her cry. She raised a hand and touched the side of his cheek, the stubble on his jaw scratching her hand and making her laugh. Last time she’d seen her baby brother, he hadn’t been able to grow much more than a scraggly moustache, but now he had a full-grown man’s stubble on his cheeks.

“I miss her too,” Nile said, dropping her hand before looking back into the fountain. “I miss both of you.”

“…can I ask _why_ you can’t come back home?” Marcus asked, more understanding than Nile had ever hoped for. She supposed it made sense; her mother and brother never had the same good opinion of the Marines as she did.

“It’s complicated,” Nile said plainly. “Beyond complicated. And I can’t tell you here. Not right now anyway.”

Marcus was silent for a long moment. Nile glanced at him, studying his profile. The strong jaw, high cheek bones and defined eyebrows looked so much like their father's, like the photo she kept with her to this day. A strange swirl of emotion, grief and pride and so many other things, churned inside her, but above all she was happy to be here with him again. Her only brother, her little Marcus.

“Meet me later?” Marcus asked after he’d finished thinking. Her serious little brother, always taking just as much time as he needed to think things through, no more, no less. “I have a few hours free after dinner to roam the city alone. I’m going to tell people I want to get some good pictures.”

He gestured to the expensive hobby camera he’d bought ages ago with saved up birthday and Christmas money. She laughed to see it, the worn strap and the faded Captain America sticker he’d slapped on it in high school.

“Sure, Mark,” Nile said, slipping her sunglasses back up her nose, turning to face the rest of the square again. She stood up, brushing the dirt off of her bright yellow sundress and gave him a wave. “Same place?”

“Same place,” Marcus said with a smile.

It wasn’t perfect, Nile thought, but it was a start.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed my little fic! I imagine they go out to get tapas after this and Nile tells him about her immortality, they figure out a safe way to let their mom know she's alive, and Mama Freeman meets up with Nile in Italy and they take a reunion vacation together. 
> 
> Maybe Andy, Joe and Nicky find out and make vaguely disapproving noises, but it's Nile's life, what are they gonna do? Stop her? Lol. 
> 
> Leave a kudos or a comment if you like!


End file.
